| << Day 9: Copenhagen | 2005 > June | Sweden, day 11 >> |
Day 10: Copenhagen ::
Slept from 2-10 am and felt refreshed. Got coffee at Baresso, which seems to be the local equivalent of Starbucks (saw several more of them that day) and was conveniently located a block from the hotel. In first-thing-in-the-morning stupor, handed the clerk a Swedish 50 crown note; she took it and then looked to a coworker in confusion. I apologized and gave her a Danish 200 crown note instead. I sipped my latte and noticed a picture of Bill Clinton outside the shop.
Went back to the hotel room and had a little over an hour to work before noon checkout time. Opened Where You Laid, did Save As, and started copying and dragging parts around, fixing a few notes. Got maybe the first minute of 5 minutes sketched out.
It was gorgeous day in Copenhagen, sunny, temperatures around 75 with an occasional cool breeze coming in from the sea. Took off walking around the city, this time with a bit more premeditation based on a map. Saw lots of street performers. A group of musicians in what appeared to be native American costumes (notably headdresses full of feathers) sang and played flutes and pan pipes with prerecorded backing tracks. I think I saw the same group last night and had gotten the distinct impression that they were Peruvian, since I’ve seen Peruvians playing in a similar style near Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco but never with costumes like this. Do Andean Indians wear headdresses?
Followed the crowds through the new harbor district and along the harbor up to the famous mermaid statue. Walked through an old fortified castle surrounded by a moat, with houses dating probably back to the 1700's inside, then back to the train station around 3:15 pm. Took a number of pictures; will post when I get back home.
Missed one every-20-minute train to Malmö by not being able to figure out the automated ticket machine. It didn’t like my Visa card. Went to the ticket office counter instead, which let me pay cash, and have time to exchange remaining Danish crowns for Swedish ones. Missed another train when it mysteriously didn’t appear on the platform the signs had said it would (train to Hamburg was there instead). Got to Malmö around 4:40 pm. Indulged in a Burger King veggie burger. Spent 30 minutes trying to get information about buses to Sjöbo—the woman in the tourist information office didn’t know, the woman at the train ticket office didn’t know, a few locals buying bus tickets from the automated machine didn’t know, and the regional bus departure monitor said nothing about Sjöbo or any cities I knew to be in that general direction. Finally I found a policeman (or transit official?) and he told me I had to take a city bus to a bus depot. Got there around 5:45.
Ah, there was the schedule to Sjöbo. Last departure 18:30, whew. Uh oh, it says Montag-Fretag. No Lördtag schedule as with some of the other buses (and if Montag-Fretag are Monday to Friday, and Lördtag is Sunday, what is Saturday?). I appeared to be stuck in Malmö. I called Justin, who was driving back from the festival. He was willing to come get me but first suggested I make some other calls. Called Jens and Magnus, who live in Malmö. No answer. Called Christoffer’s house. No answer. Magnus called back. He was out of town. Tried Jens again and got through. He made sure I was at the right bus depot and said, no problem, just take bus 176 to Sjöbo. I was happy and thankful when I hung up, but then I looked at the schedule again to see how I’d misread it. Bus 176 was the one that ran Montag-Fretag only! Indeed, the departure monitor for the next hour (18:15 to 19:15) did not include bus 176. Called Justin, who was closer to Malmö than he’d thought and would divert to come get me. Went back to the central train station.
From a bit outside the city, Justin just followed the train tracks to find the station, arriving around 7:30. Splurged on sushi and tiramisu. (Justin decoded the dinner bill and determined that sales tax is 25%. Ouch.) I drove us back to the guest house, finally arriving a little after 11.
Today it seems the “I’ll figure it out as I go” travel planning method works better in cities than in getting between them.
Update, 17 Jul: Pictures
| << Day 9: Copenhagen | 2005 > June | Sweden, day 11 >> |